Improvement in railway air-brakes



H. W. GREENJG. W. HOAG 8n T. P. OLEAVELAND.

RailWay Air-Brake.

No.198,015. Patented Dec. 11. 1877.

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Witnesses @zfim UNITED STATE N QFFICE."

HENRY W. AND GEORGE W; HOAG, OF SAN JAOINTO, AND TIMO- THY OLEAVELAND,OF MOUNTAIN HOUSE, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN RAI LWA Y Al R-BRAK E S.

Specification forming 'p art of Letters Patent No. 198,015, datedDecember 11, 1877; application filed i 5 I November 6, 1877'. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY W. GREEN and GEORGE W. HOAG, of San J acinto,Oolusa county, and TIMOTHY P. CL'EAvnLA'Nn, of Mountain House, Sierracounty, and State of California, have invented an Improvement in RailwayAir-Brakes; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,'clear,and exact de scription thereof, reference being had to the ,accompanyingdrawings.

Our invention relates to an automatic arrangement for connecting anddisconnecting the air-pipes of a railway air-brakebetween the cars of arailway-train, so as to avoid the inconvenience of coupling anduncoupling them by hand, and the liability of their being negligentlyleft uncoupled and the consequent danger to the train.

Our invention consists in attaching a supplemental spring-bumper to thetruck at each end of every car, where it will not be affected by theheight of the car-body. These bumpers project out somewhat farther thanthe ordinary draw-head bumpers, so that the opposing ends will cometogether and be tightly compressed before the ordinary bumpers are 7connected. The heads of these supplemental bmnpers we chamber out andprovide each with a valve, which remains closed when the cars aredisconnected, but which is opened automatically by the meeting of thetwo bumpers. The air-pipe of the air-brake we then connect with thechamber in the bumperhead, so that the connection of the air-passageswill be automatically completed when the cars come together and arecoupled.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinalsection, and Figs. 2 and 3 are sections.

Let A represent the car body or frame, and B B the trucks. 0 is theordinary draw-head coupling, which is attached to the frame or body A.To each of the trucks B, at each end of the car, we attach asupplemental bumper,

D, directly below the ordinary draw-head O. This supplemental bumperconsists of a spindle, E, which is permanently attached to the frame ofthe trucks, and around which a strong spiral spring, F, is secured. Theshank G of the bumper-head is tubular, and slides over the end of thespindle E against the end of the spring, so that when the bumper ispressed inward the spring will be compressed. A pin, I, on the spindlemoves in a slot, J, in the tubular shank, and limits the movement of thebumper-head. The head of the supplemental bumper is chambered out, andan elastic end piece or face, K, is secured air-tight overits outer end.A hole, L, is made in the center of this end piece, and a commonclapper-valve, M, is secured over the opening on the inside of thechamber. A spring, 0, closes this valve,

and a rod, P, which is attached to the free end of the valve, projectsthrough the elastic end piece, so that when the two bumper-heads of twocars come together each bumpenhead will strike the projecting end of therod P of the opposite bumper-head, and open its valve by pushing the rodin. This opens communication between the chambers of the two bumperheadswhen they are in contact.

The air-pipe Q, which conducts the air to the cylinder underneath thecar, is connected with the chamber in the head of the supplementalbumper at each end of the car, so that when the bumpers are in contactthe connection is-made throughout the train.

A projecting arm, S, on one side of each bumper-head enters a recess orsocket, V, in the opposite bumper, each bumper-head being provided withan arm on one side and a socket on the opposite side. These arms serveas keys to prevent the bumper-heads from sliding past each othersidewise when they arein contact. 7

The supplemental bumper-head is made to project out farther then theupper or coupling bumper, so that the spring F must be considerablycompressed before the coupling-bumpers come together. This compressionof the spring forces the elastic faces of the supplemental bumpersstrongly together, so as to make an airtight joint between them. Theelastic faces, in connection with the compression of the springs F, willpreserve this airtight joint even under the motion of the car in turningcurves.

We are thus able to provide an automatic coupling or connection for theair or steam pipes, which conducts air or steam for brakin g the train,thus avoiding the trouble of making the connection between the cars byhand, and the liability of an imperfect connection, or of leaving someof the pipes disconnected by oversight, thus endangering the safety ofthe train.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a railway-car havin g the ordinary draw-headbumper C, the supplemental bumpers D, attached to the trucks of the car,and connected with the. air or steam pipes Q, and provided withintercommunicating air or other passages, which are automatically openedwhen two cars come together, substantially as and for the purpose abovedescribed.

2. The supplemental spring-bumper D, with its chambered head, and havingthe elastic face or buffer-plate K, with its opening L and spring-valveM, in combination with the airpipe Q, which conducts air to thebrake-cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose described. h

3. The supplemental yielding bumper D, with its chambered head andelastic face or buffer-plate K, and provided with the projecting arm Son one side, and recess V on the opposite side, substantially as and forthe purpose described. i

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals.

HENRY W. GREEN. [L. GEORGE WV. HOAG. [L. S. TIMOTHY P. OLEAVELAND. [L.S.

Witnesses as to Henry W. Green:

FRANK A. BRooKs, WILL. L. TAYLOR.

Witnesses as to G. W. Hoag:

P. N. ARoNsoN, A. 'GALLAUD.

Witnesses as to Timothy P. Cleaveland:

E. H. ANDREWS, O. MCDONALD.

